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Simpson JP, Kim CY, Kaur A, Weng JK, Dilkes B, Chapple C. Genome-wide association identifies a BAHD acyltransferase activity that assembles an ester of glucuronosylglycerol and phenylacetic acid. Plant J 2024. [PMID: 38558472 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are an effective approach to identify new specialized metabolites and the genes involved in their biosynthesis and regulation. In this study, GWAS of Arabidopsis thaliana soluble leaf and stem metabolites identified alleles of an uncharacterized BAHD-family acyltransferase (AT5G57840) associated with natural variation in three structurally related metabolites. These metabolites were esters of glucuronosylglycerol, with one metabolite containing phenylacetic acid as the acyl component of the ester. Knockout and overexpression of AT5G57840 in Arabidopsis and heterologous overexpression in Nicotiana benthamiana and Escherichia coli demonstrated that it is capable of utilizing phenylacetyl-CoA as an acyl donor and glucuronosylglycerol as an acyl acceptor. We, thus, named the protein Glucuronosylglycerol Ester Synthase (GGES). Additionally, phenylacetyl glucuronosylglycerol increased in Arabidopsis CYP79A2 mutants that overproduce phenylacetic acid and was lost in knockout mutants of UDP-sulfoquinovosyl: diacylglycerol sulfoquinovosyl transferase, an enzyme required for glucuronosylglycerol biosynthesis and associated with glycerolipid metabolism under phosphate-starvation stress. GGES is a member of a well-supported clade of BAHD family acyltransferases that arose by duplication and neofunctionalized during the evolution of the Brassicales within a larger clade that includes HCT as well as enzymes that synthesize other plant-specialized metabolites. Together, this work extends our understanding of the catalytic diversity of BAHD acyltransferases and uncovers a pathway that involves contributions from both phenylalanine and lipid metabolism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey P Simpson
- Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
- Purdue Center for Plant Biology, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
| | - Colin Y Kim
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142, USA
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA
| | - Amanpreet Kaur
- Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
- Purdue Center for Plant Biology, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
| | - Jing-Ke Weng
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142, USA
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology & Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02120, USA
- Institute for Plant-Human Interface, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02120, USA
| | - Brian Dilkes
- Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
- Purdue Center for Plant Biology, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
| | - Clint Chapple
- Department of Biochemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
- Purdue Center for Plant Biology, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA
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